18 November, 2007
He felt the indifference surrounding him - the hard seat of the pew, the flagstone’s chill leeching into his heels and toes. He no longer looked to the statues above, no longer watched the unattended altar and wondered. He simply stared on at whatever his eyes encountered, no longer even asking for answers, no longer waiting for a response. No longer waiting for anything. Just waiting.
Chapter 10 is done. It’s done. It’s done, it’s finished - the last of the ’safe’ chapters before we get to the series finalé crunching three parter. This particular chapter has taken me over two months to write out in full. About a week of that was doing the last scene alone, the last few days were spent on the last three sentences. Not that the last scene was particularly difficult other than the fact that once I’d finished it, I’d have completed another chapter. I seem to have huge issues with closure. As soon as something ends I don’t seem to want to acknowledge it, as if it’s already over anyway, so why bother going that last mile? As I’ve said before - mostly since starting this particular novel two years ago - the more you write the more you find out about yourself.
Nanowrimo? You have to be kidding. I’m still trying to finish what I started for Nanowrimo 2005 and have the whole of the eighteenth century to do before the end of the month.
Current word count: 104,458
If I could write the way you do, Ben, I wouldn’t need to bother with artificial timelines like Nanowrimo to keep me motivated. 23,520 words for me.
Comment by bohémienne — 18 November, 2007, 2:09 pm
I wish you’d send me some copy to read !!!
Jeremy
Comment by jeremy — 18 November, 2007, 9:30 pm
Blimey Ben, over 100,000 words! That’s proper, that is. And well done on
cracking chapter 10 - how many more chapters do you have to go? And have you
sent it anywhere yet or you waiting until it is finished?
Comment by Jayne — 19 November, 2007, 9:59 am
“As soon as something ends I don’t seem to want to acknowledge it, as if it’s already over anyway, so why bother going that last mile?”
I seem to have that exact same problem. You have to go that last mile, though. we’re all waiting at the finish line. :)
Comment by Ani — 19 November, 2007, 11:46 am
Erm, waiting for you, I mean. Not that we got there first, or anything like that. Just to clarify. At 100,000+ words, you are way ahead of the game.
Comment by Ani — 19 November, 2007, 11:47 am
You can write the way I do, Bohéy. Not worse, not better, just different. We’re all as good as each other, just in different ways… Apart from demotivation, apparently. That’s something we all seem to have in abundance.
Will happily send you something if you want, Jeremy Old Bean. I remember you asking before, having talked about it with Angela, but I was in a big “oh let’s just throw this bloody idea out of the window” and sent you a sulky reply. Let me know if you want to see the first three chapters.
Thanks Jayne. 100,000 at this stage is big for a first published novel, I know. It should end up no more than 120,000 which is at the limit. Most first published novels are expected to be around the 70,0000 mark, but a lot of that’s to do with this idea of “market” which I cannot stand. How long’s a piece of string after all? As long or as short as it needs to be, that’s how long. I’ve sent it to two agents so far and it’s been rejected twice. Which I’m not remotely upset about. Quite happy in fact - every rejection letter is like a medal for a tour of duty, and the Rowling woman apparently had her first Potter novel rejected something like 30 times before she was signed. I’m going to get it finished (three more chapters) and then send to another agent I’m really excited about approaching, as she has a very fresh and honest approach to reviewing MSs. Most agents from what I’ve heard seem to just leave it sitting around for three months, have a quick flick, and then send it straight back.
Calm Ani, I got what you meant, luv. I prefer to think of it as a village fete rather than a race though. All of us are doing what we’re best at, be it viscera, irony, heartache or hope. As long as I’m dressed up as a clown and scaring the crap out of small children. It’s a community effort. Writers love community.
Comment by Ben — 19 November, 2007, 1:16 pm
CONGRATS. You must be so driven to get as far as you have. I’ve tried to write so many books before and never got past the first few chapters without suddenly deciding I wanted to write about something entirely different!!
Good for you.
Comment by Red — 19 November, 2007, 8:04 pm